The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

A new member in his thread about living in Spain recently stated "(Healthcare, pensions, etc are issues that need consideration too as all those UK years built up for statutory pension go out of the window if you stop paying in UK, but paying in both places, doing taxes in both places, etc all adds up pretty quickly)"

Can someone clarify this?
Is the English part of my State Pension safe? I know we have a DWP member on the board. Perhaps they would like to clarify the situation?

I left the UK 5 years ago because of the financial crisis and subsequent fall in the £ making it impossible to keep my UK house as I needed to find money to pay the builders in Spain.
OK so I paid in to the system as a self employed person for a good decade and a half before that and before got my contributions paid as sometimes a wife and later a single parent, during which a couple of years were paid as I was working myself.
So, In short I was expecting at 67 to receive a small part pension from the UK and a very small part from Spain. Is this still the situation or have the UK government of the day stolen/tried to take my puny little pension?

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

According to all the research I did, there is no risk to you losing your UK state pension that you have contributed to. If you had done 33 (I think) years then it would be a full pension, but other than that it is scaled down. Part of my contributions were also self employed.

You can actually apply to DWP for a pension forcast. Ive done this a few times over the years just to make sure nothing changed. One of them I did from Spain, but cant remember if I used a UK address

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

Heres the link :-)

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

Thanks Mitzy. I did have a report sent to me a few years ago too. Just wanted to check that nothing had changed with all these comments about governments pulling out of treaties etc.

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

Any treaties would not affect your entitlement to any UK pension you've earned. They MAY however affect how it is treated in your country of residence for tax purposes, annual increase etc. As mitzboy says get a forecast from the pensions dept.

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

At the moment if you live in Canada, the USA or Australia for instance you dont get the annual increases in pension.

The pensions advisory service says

"Your state pension will increase each year, but only if you live in:

UK for 6 months or more each year;

European Economic Area (EEA);
Switzerland;
country that has a social security agreement with the UK that allows for increases.
If you live outside these areas (for example: Australia), you won't get yearly increases. If you return to live permanently in the UK, your State Pension will be increased each year."

Heres a useful PDF for people and pensions abroad

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

Yes Mitziboy, we get the increase here in Philippines due to a social security reciprocal agreement with UK. We don't get the winter fuel allowance tho'! :)
I think you used to get the increase in Australia for the same reason but the Australian government cancelled the agreement a few years ago - I remember reading something about it and it caused some aggro at the time.I know in the US you can get ALL your UK pensions tax free so long as you are registered for tax in the US. We pay UK tax on State pensions and government pensions if above the tax free threshold but I get my 2 private pensions free of UK tax due to the Double taxation agreement between here and UK.

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

Sorry Mitzy, but you DO get the increases in the USA because they have a reciprocal agreement.

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

It makes it clearer I guess in the link I posted:

The UK has reciprocal social security
arrangements with:

Barbados SA43
Bermuda SA23
Canada SA20*
Cyprus SA12
Israel SA14
Jamaica SA27
Jersey & Guernsey SA4
Korea CA90*
Malta SA11
Mauritius SA38
Philippines SA42
Switzerland SA6
Turkey SA22
USA SA33
Republics of the Former Yugoslavia SA17

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

At the moment you still get it but do you trust the DWP and those Old Etonians who run the show ? I do not.

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

:sneaky:

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

Do you trust .......... anyone at all???

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

I have a very reliable border collie. I am not sure about humans though.

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

Irrespective of the outcome of the EU referendum don't forget that there are changes to UK pension as of the new single tier pension being introduced. Under the single tier pension if you have under 10 years NI contributions you will not have any entitlement to UK State Pension. Between 10 and 35 years contributions will give you a pension entitlement. To get full pension you must have 35 years contributions. Below 35 but over 10 years is a sliding proportion of full pension.

Re: The truth about UK pensions in Spain please
 

"the new single tier pension" is a misnomer, it also depends on what types of contributions have been made never mind the number of years. For some of us the "Tier" will be a lower one.